In December of 2014, the famous NASCAR Champion Pete Hamilton sustained a three-part fracture to his left humerus just below his shoulder joint. Hamilton sustained the injury while on a holiday visit to Georgia, where he slipped and fell.

Hamilton rushed to the Gwinnett Medical Center, where the on-call emergency room trauma surgeon booked him in for an internal shoulder procedure. Unfortunately, Hamilton was in extreme pain when he woke up after the surgery, but the Georgian trauma surgeon assured him that everything was fine.

In 2011, a four-year-old boy named Jesse Matlock received corrective eye surgery on the incorrect eye. Afterward, his parents were forced to take him to another specialist when it was discovered that Jesse’s surgeon, upon realizing her mistake, quickly operated on the correct eye as well.

Tasha Gaul, Jesse’s mother, revealed that it was uncertain whether there would be permanent damage to Jesse’s previously healthy eye.

The reason for the surgery was due to Jesse’s wandering right eye. The procedure of the surgery was to weaken the muscle at the bottom of Jesse’s right eye since the uneven strength of that muscle was causing his eye to wander. However, it was only after the procedure was completed on the left eye that the surgeon realized she had operated on the wrong eye. She sent a nurse out to inform Jesse’s parents that she was going to operate on both eyes, and the nurse quickly returned to the operating room before they could make any inquiries. 

There are 6 major surgical errors that have been found to be the most common both nationally and internationally. These errors are most often featured in medical malpractice cases and include the following:

1. Wrong-Procedure Surgical Error

A wrong-procedure surgical error is an error that occurs when your surgeon performs the incorrect surgical procedure on you. An example could be if you were scheduled for a foot amputation, but your surgeon amputates your entire calf instead.

2. Wrong-Site Surgical Error

A wrong-site surgical error is an error that occurs when your surgeon performs your scheduled surgical procedure, but on the wrong part of your body. 

In December 2015, Jennifer Melton gave birth to a healthy baby boy at the University Medical Center in Lebanon, Tennessee. Nate was only a day old when he was taken for a surgical procedure that he was never meant to have. 

Nate was in the hospital’s nursery when he was taken by a nurse for a frenectomy whereby the tissue that connects the tongue to the floor of the mouth was cut. This is a surgery that another child was meant to undergo to remediate his “tongue-tie.”

A frenectomy is a simple surgical procedure of the mouth that removes one or both of the frena (connective tissue membrane that attaches one surface of the mouth to another). A lingual frenum is a connective tissue that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth. This is the frenum that is removed when a child has a “tongue tie” that affects their ability to speak and/or feed properly.

Whilst many errors in healthcare are inevitable, surgical errors can often be the most debilitating. These events are termed “never events,” as they are errors which should never have occurred, and are indicative of alarming underlying safety issues.

What Are Surgical Errors?

In short, surgical errors are preventable mistakes made during surgery which can lead to injury, disability, or even death.

A study published in JAMA Cardiology shows that those who undergo noncardiac surgery may develop complications that lead to heart attacks, stroke and even death. New York residents who are hospitalized for non-heart-related surgery will want to know what’s involved in this trend; after all, more than 300 million noncardiac surgeries are performed worldwide every year.

New York readers know that all surgeries come with risks. Unfortunately, one of those risks can be the surgeon who performs the procedure. For example, an Iowa woman has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a South Dakota doctor for allegedly removing a healthy kidney during a botched surgery.

New York residents who undergo surgical procedures might be victims of surgical errors. When this occurs, it is important that the patients understand why the error occurred, how the surgeon can correct the errors and injuries and what legal steps should be taken.

Patients in New York who are suffering from new and chronic pain following spinal surgery should know that they may have what’s called failed back surgery syndrome. Patients who are suffering from the after-effects of neck surgery are also said to have FBSS.

For the most part, surgeries and other procedures done in New York and throughout the United States are relatively safe. However, there is always a chance that a doctor or other medical professional can make a mistake. According to one study, the wrong person was operated on at least 25 times over a period of 84 months in Colorado. Assuming that the right person is being treated, it is possible for a patient to receive the wrong blood.